Energy Report

MARFA — Although known to West Texas residents since the end of March, Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas-based company responsible for the Trans-Pecos Pipeline, officially announced last week that the pipeline is now transporting natural gas to the border with Mexico.

The announcement, released to the business wires, also stated that another West Texas pipeline, the Comanche Trail Pipeline, and the Waha Header are in business.

Both pipelines originate at the Waha Hub outside Fort Stockton, Texas. The 195-mile Comanche Trail Pipeline will transport natural gas from Pecos County to the U.S.-Mexican border in San Elizario, Texas, just south of El Paso, while the Trans-Pecos Pipeline traverses Pecos, Brewster and Presidio counties, before crossing the border south of the city of Presidio.

The announcement follows Energy Transfer Partner’s merger with another of Kelcy Warren’s oil and gas businesses, Sunoco Logistics, which was finalized at the end of last month.

The merger creates an industry giant worth a reported $75 billion dollars, which will operate in every all oil and gas basin in the nation, according the Dallas Magazine.

It was reported by The Washington Post last week that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shut down Energy Transfer Partner’s Ohio Rover Pipeline after the pipeline suffered 18 leaks, spilling 2 million gallons of drilling mud. In a letter sent by the FERC to Rover Pipeline bosses, the spill “covered an area of approximately 6.5 acres, coating wetland soils and vegetation with bentonite clay and bore-hole cuttings.”

“We continue to work with the FERC and the Ohio EPA to resolve the outstanding concerns in a manner that ensures the complete remediation of the areas,” said the media spokesperson for the Rover Pipeline.